Norway’s Statoil to drill new Snøhvit wells

Norwegian energy giant Statoil said it will be drilling a new production well on the Snøhvit (Snow White) gas field offshore Hammerfest in order to maintain the high production and capacity utilisation at the LNG plant on Melkøya island.

The Songa Enabler drilling rig has already started drilling a new injection well for CO2 gas on the Snøhvit field.

After the new CO2 injector is installed, the rig will move on to drill the first new production well at Snøhvit since the field came on stream in 2007  for “replenishment of gas for Hammerfest LNG,” Statoil said in its statement on Tuesday.

The drilling campaign is planned to last until Christmas.

According to Statoil, Snøhvit is still the only LNG project in the world capturing and storing CO2 separated from the well stream in a dedicated formation offshore.

So far more than four tonnes of CO2 from Snøhvit have been stored. The stored CO2 is being monitored in order to ensure that it does not mix with the main producing reservoir. A new CO2 injection well is now required.

The CO2 solution project was established in 2013 in order to build and install a new CO2 injection well, replacing the original injector that over time would leak CO2 into the gas reservoir on the Snøhvit field, Statoil said.

“Hammerfest LNG needed replenishment of gas in order to maintain the high production and capacity utilisation at the plant, while ensuring sustainable CO2 storage,” said Geir Owren, asset owner representative for the project.

In the summer of 2015 an extensive marine campaign was performed. Pipelines and a template for the CO2 project were installed and tied in to the existing subsea facility on the Snøhvit field. The new subsea facility was built and installed well within the budget of NOK 2.5 billion, according to Statoil.

The next big step for Hammerfest LNG is the development of the Askeladd field, which is part of the plan for development and operation of the Snøhvit licence. It is expected to come on stream in 2020/2021. This development step will “help ensure full utilisation of the capacity at Hammerfest LNG,” according to the Norwegian company.

Statoil’s Hammerfest facility is currently Europe’s biggest liquefaction plant and uses gas from the Snøhvit  field. The Arctic gas is sent ashore through a 143 kilometer long pipeline to Melkøya near Hammerfest.

The plant has the capacity to produce 4.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of the chilled fuel.